Hawthorne Ex-Mayor Urges Card Club Vote : Gambling: The City Council did not act on the unexpected proposal. The plan would open the city to gaming revenues for the first time in more than 50 years.

Former Hawthorne Mayor Guy Hocker made a pitch for legalized gambling in Hawthorne at Monday’s City Council meeting, asking that the council consider putting his proposal on the ballot.

Hocker said gambling revenues could help to compensate for the city’s lack of a large shopping center, tourist attraction or other major producer of tax revenue.

“We don’t have the luxury of a Galleria, we don’t have the luxury of an ocean, we don’t have the luxury of a Hollywood Park,” Hocker said. “So here we sit looking for ways to finance city government. . . . We have an opportunity right now to grab a multimillion-dollar business that’s just burgeoning.”

The City Council did not take any action on Hocker’s proposal Monday. However, several council members questioned the viability of a casino in Hawthorne, citing the California Bell Club, which declared bankruptcy last April and closed its doors in December. Hocker downplayed that closing and those of several Gardena clubs, chalking the failures up to poor location and increased competition from newer, more luxurious casinos.

He argued that Hawthorne should take advantage of its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport and the upcoming Century Freeway to build an upscale card club that could bring the city much needed funds, attract “affluent, educated gamblers” from all over the South Bay and put Hawthorne on the map.

“I’d like this council to look at the unique opportunity given us to look at legalized gambling in the city of Hawthorne, voted on by the people,” Hocker said.

A 1984 state law gave the attorney general regulatory power over the state’s card parlors and required local voter approval, in addition to City Council approval, before a new card club is opened.

In an interview, Mayor Betty J. Ainsworth said Hocker’s proposal “comes as sort of a shock.”

“I’m personally against a casino in Hawthorne, because I’m personally against gambling,” Ainsworth said.

Councilman Charles Bookhammer also expressed surprise because the proposal was unexpected. But he added that legalized gambling in Hawthorne is “an old idea that’s resurfaced. . . . I still have to hear more from the public about whether they would want something like this.”

Gardena is currently the only South Bay city where legalized gambling is allowed, but the number of clubs there has declined from six to two. The most recent casualty was the Horseshoe Club, which closed for renovations in May, 1989, and never reopened. The club, on Vermont Avenue near Rosecrans, is up for sale.

“We’ve had clubs succeed, and we’ve had clubs that have gone broke,” said Gardena City Manager Kenneth Landau. “I think the key is management and the player clientele you can draw.”

Gardena’s two remaining clubs, the Normandie Casino and the Eldorado Club provide the city with about $4 million annually in tax revenues, Landau said.

Bell City Manager John Bramble said the California Bell Club closed “primarily due to inadequate management practices. . . . It was very profitable in the very early years, but it became less profitable as additional clubs opened, primarily because there was diversity of gambling opportunities.”

But Bramble added that a well-managed card club “is a very desirable thing to have because it does generate revenue.”

In its heyday, the Bell Club provided the city $2 million in annual tax revenues, but by its demise revenues had dropped to less than $1 million a year. The club closed owing the city $1.9 million, which the city expects to receive when the club is sold, Bramble said.

Attorney Steven E. Smith, a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the Bell Club, said a purchase agreement has been approved by the bankruptcy court.

Blaine Nicholson, spokesman for the Normandie Casino, questioned whether there are enough potential casino customers to support a new card club in the South Bay.

“The proof is in the fact that the Horseshoe Club went out of business . . . and the Bell Club just went bankrupt,” Nicholson said. “There were six clubs (in Gardena) and now there’s only two. I don’t personally feel there’s enough business to sustain another club.”

Nicholson called the gambling industry in California risky because of pending legislation that would outlaw some Asian games and a pending court case that will decide the legality of jackpot poker in Los Angeles County.

“At any point in time, a court could rule that you can’t play the games,” Nicholson said.

Nonetheless, the Normandie Casino is expanding its card room from 57 to 80 tables--the maximum allowed under Gardena city ordinance--and enlarging its showroom, which provides Las Vegas-style entertainment, to increase seating from 120 to 265, Nicholson said.

He said the Normandie has survived because of its reputation built over 50 years, heavy advertising and the fact that it is the only card club in the Los Angeles area to provide entertainment.

Ainsworth and longtime Hawthorne resident Bob Reeves, 84, said there were several card casinos in Hawthorne about 50 years ago, but they created such an uproar in the community that they were quickly closed.

“We’ve always been against gambling in Hawthorne,” Reeves said.

A number of city ordinances prohibiting gambling were passed in Hawthorne from the late 1920s into the 1930s. In 1938, the city passed three anti-gambling ordinances, including an urgency ordinance condemning games cited in the Penal Code as illegal and another ordinance specifically prohibiting draw poker and other forms of gambling, said Deputy City Clerk Joan Fitzsimmons.

In a special 1977 election, Hawthorne voters approved an ordinance allowing bingo games to be held for charitable purposes.

More recently, voters in other California cities have rejected legalized gambling. In Cathedral City, a ballot measure to allow legalized gambling was defeated by a 2-to-1 margin last October.

Hocker, however, is undeterred, arguing that times have changed in Hawthorne since the 1930s. Voters may be swayed in favor of legalized gambling because tax revenues could provide funds for roads, parks, public services and additions to the police force, he said.

“You have to put it in front of a voter and show them the benefit,” he said. “Here is a valid way, a tried-and-true way to find funds to pay for these much needed services.”